The complex coastal morphology of the Southern California Bight (Point Conception to just south of the U.S.-Mexico border) engenders the formation of numerous small-scale (< 50 km) coastal ocean eddies. We use synthetic aperture radar (e.g. ERS-1, ERS-2, and Radarsat) and AVHRR data to document many of the geophysical characteristics of these eddies, e.g. size, genesis, rotation, and distribution in time and space. The availability of SeaWiFS ocean color data allows for an interdisciplinary, multisensory investigation of these eddies as they often have quite distinct signatures in SeaWiFS images. The presence of these eddies adds to the complexity of the coastal marine ecosystem at a variety of mostly undocumented scales, necessitating such comprehensive characterizations. Using SeaWiFS HRPT (1 km) data, we describe here the nature of these features in the Southern California Bight, and also discuss the importance for higher resolution (sub-kilometer) biological investigations using in situ and hyperspectral data.